1 1 8 Leguminosce. [Neptunia. 



III. MlMOSE^E. 



Stam. 10. 



Aquatic herb 58. Neptunia. 



Woody climber 59. Entada. 



Trees or shrubs 



Not spinous 60. Adenanthera. 



With spinous branchlets . . . .61. DiCHROSTACHYS. 

 Stam. indefinite 



Stam. free 62. Acacia. 



Stam. monadelphous below 



Pod straight, flat 63. Albizzia. 



Pod curved into a circle, often twisted . . 64. PlTHECOLOBlUM. 



All our 22 species, with the exception of Pithecolobium subcoriaceutn, 

 are plants of the low country, but P. bigeminum also extends up into the 

 lower montane zone. Neptunia, Dichrostachys, and 7 species of Acacia 

 are restricted to the dry region, and Adenanthera bicolor, Albizzia 

 stipulata, and Pithecolobium bigeminum are confined to the moist. 

 P. geminatum is the only endemic species. 



58. NEPTUNIA, Lour. 



Aquatic annual with floating stems, 1. abruptly bipinnate ; 

 fl. very small, in heads, the lower ones barren ; cal. cam- 

 panulate, 5-toothed ; pet. 5, connate near base ; stam. 10 with 

 a gland above the anth. when young, staminodes in barren fl. 

 petaloid ; ov. stalked, absent in barren fl. ; pod small, dry, early 

 dehiscent along dorsal suture, much flattened, with several 

 seeds. — Sp. 8 ; 2 in Fl. B. Ind. 



N. oleracea, Lour. Fl. Cochiitch. p. 654 (1790). Diya-nidi- 

 kumba, 5. 



Thw. Enum. 99. C. P. 15 16. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 285. Roxb. Cor. PI. t. 119 {Mimosa natans). 



Annual, floating in water, stem elongated, scarcely 

 branched, with numerous plumose roots pendulous from the 

 nodes, stout, often swollen, purple, often provided on the out- 

 side with floats of white spongy tissue ; 1. bipinnate, main 

 rachis \\-2 in., at right angles with stem, glabrous, stip. 

 membranous, ovate, acute, persistent, pinnse 2 or 3 pair, op- 

 posite, shortly stalked, f-i in. long, lflts. 18-28 (9-14 pair), 

 sessile, |-§ in., linear, obtuse, glabrous, glaucous beneath; fl. 

 sessile in an oblong head \-i in. long, at end of stout, erect, 

 tapering, glabrous, axillary peduncle 3-5 in. long, the barren 

 ones in lower part of head ; pet. strap-shaped ; stam. much 

 exserted, staminodes longer, § in., strap-shaped, acute ; pod 

 long-stalked, deflexed, 1 in. by f in. wide, broadly oblong, 

 beaked, glabrous, 4-6-seeded. 



